Tourists shocked as couple have sex on city boardwalk

A group of Dutch tourists were shocked to see a couple having sex in broad daylight on the boardwalk in Dublin city centre.

A Dublin woman said she felt sad and embarrassed that the group of Dutch runners she brought to her native city should have witnessed such a sight.

Aishling Middelburg, who now lives in The Netherlands, travelled back to Dublin with nine male runners to take part in a half-marathon in the Phoenix Park last month.

She told Joe Duffy on Radio One’s Liveline programme yesterday that the men went for an exercise run on the city’s quays at 4pm in the afternoon.

Trousers

There, they witnessed the couple on the boardwalk with their trousers around their ankles having sex within a few metres of people queuing at a coffee kiosk. The couple appeared to be under the influence of drugs. She said she no longer felt proud of Dublin.

“The men came and told me what they had seen. They were shocked and said such a sight would not be seen in Amsterdam,” Aishling told the Herald.

“I didn’t know whether to laugh or to cry with embarrassment. I’m very sad at the way Dublin has deteriorated in the 16 years since I moved to Holland.

“The drug addicts seem to control the boardwalk. I would certainly feel safer in Amsterdam,” she said.

She also spoke of her surprise at the increase in people sleeping rough in doorways in Dublin city centre. And she pointed out what she described as the “tacky” appearance of the city.

Broadcaster Joe Duffy previously made comments on the show that the city centre had become “an unadulterated kip”.

Richard Guiney, chief executive of the Dublin Town business organisation, last night said the city has been “steadily improving” in the past few years.

Defending the city’s reputation, he said much was achieved by gardai in curbing the activities of addicts in the city centre under Operation Spire since last year. With more than 300,000 people in the city centre daily, some negative incidents would occur, he said.